Interrupted Continuities: Modern Dance in Germany

The roots of today's modern first appeared in Germany and America. In the decade preceding World War I, American and German dancers independently evolved new forms that opposed the tradition of narrative and spectacular ballet. Yet the new forms probably would not have developed if the two traditions had not come into contact. When American dancers Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis appeared in Germany after 1900oo they became immediate sensations and catalysts for German dancers. In the '20s, the movement known as ausdruckstanz (literally dance of expression) came to dominate the German concert stage and opera house. Under the Third Reich, ausdruckstanz lost its artistic vigor, and the direction of influence reversed. Many German dancers emigrated to America in the '3os and contributed to the establishment of American modern dance. After World War II ausdruckstanz nearly disappeared in divided Germany, while American modern achieved a worldwide reputation. Beginning in the late '6os, modern reappeared in Germany as tanztheater (literally dance theater). Taking ausdruckstanz as precedent, the choreographers of tanztheater elevate expression over form and view as a mode of social engagement. Their aesthetic opposes the formalism of both classical ballet and postmodern dance. Last season's appearances by Pina Bausch, Reinhild Hoffmann, and Susanne Linke at the Brooklyn Academy of Music continued the encounter between German and American modern dance.